GEO-AST4410 – Planetary Sciences
Course description
Schedule, syllabus and examination date
Course content
The course will provide an introduction to the formation, constitution and evolution of planetary systems and planetary bodies. This also covers an introduction to the characteristics of planets and planetary bodies (structure, surface, atmospheres) and processes acting on, in and between them.
Learning outcome
You will be introduced to a wide variety of physical, chemical, and geological processes that govern the motions and properties of planets:
- ability to describe the structure and evolution of planetary systems (solar system and extra-solar systems), the distribution and properties of planets, minor planets, comets and meteorites
- understand components of celestial mechanics, which describe the motion of bodies within the gravitational field of the central star
- understand processes acting in and on planetary atmospheres, considering implications of distance to the sun and composition
- understand the differences and similarities of surface evolutions on the various solid surface bodies and implications for the interior process as well as climate evolution
- understand the fundamentals of the shapes and interior structure of the planetary body in relation to meteorite composition, heat budget and gravitation, including the conditions when a magnetic field can be generated
- ability to describe a given topic in a popular science article within the subject area
Admission to the course
Students admitted at UiO must?apply for courses?in Studentweb. Students enrolled in other Master's Degree Programmes can, on application, be admitted to the course if this is cleared by their own study programme.
Nordic citizens and applicants residing in the Nordic countries may?apply to take this course as a single course student.
If you are not already enrolled as a student at UiO, please see our information about?admission requirements and procedures for international applicants.
Recommended previous knowledge
- GEO1100 – Evolution of the Earth / AST2000 – Introduction to Astrophysics / AST1100 – Introduction to astrophysics (continued)
- 4th-semester courses within Geofysikk og klima (bachelor) or "general/programming-based astronomy"
Overlapping courses
- 10 credits overlap with GEO-AST3410 – Planetary Sciences.
Teaching
- 3 hours lectures per week, and 3 hours mandatory seminar/practicals per week, over 12 weeks
- Submission of a written assignment
The seminars / practicals / written assignment are mandatory and must be approved before sitting the written examination at the end.
Attendance at the first lecture is compulsory. Students who fail to meet are considered to have withdrawn from the course unless they have previously given notice to the Student administration (studieinfo@geo.uio.no).
We reserve the right to change the teaching form and examination of the course in semesters where 5 or fewer students have been admitted.
Examination
- Mandatory seminars/practicals and a written assignment must be approved before sitting the final written examination.
- A final written examination counts 100% towards the final grade.
Mandatory exercises and activities are valid for 5 semesters starting from the semester they were approved the first time.
It is possible to take the exam up to 3 times. If you?withdraw from the exam?after the deadline or during the exam, this will be counted as an examination attempt.
It will also be counted as 1 of the 3 attempts to sit the exam for this course if you sit the exam for the following course:
Examination support material
Approved calculator, Rottman: Collection of Mathematical Formulas
Language of examination
Courses taught in English will only offer the exam paper in English.
You may write your examination paper in Norwegian, Swedish, Danish or English.
Grading scale
Grades are awarded on a scale from A to F, where A is the best grade and F?is a fail. Read more about?the grading system.
Resit an examination
Students who can document a valid reason for absence from the regular examination are?offered a postponed examination at the beginning of the next semester.
Re-scheduled examinations are not offered to students who withdraw during, or did not pass, the original examination.
More about examinations at UiO
- Use of sources and citations
- Special exam arrangements due to individual needs
- Withdrawal from an exam
- Illness at exams / postponed exams
- Explanation of grades and appeals
- Resitting an exam
- Cheating/attempted cheating
You will find further guides and resources at the web page on examinations at UiO.